24 and Chronicle Guys Team Up for Fox Superhero TV Show Vigilant

Superheroes are in these days. Not just at the movies, but also in TVland. Fox is now getting in on the action with their own superhero show, courtesy of Max Landis and Howard Gordon.

After success on the big screen with the teens-get-superpowers-and-shit-happens movie “Chronicle”, screenwriter Max Landis (who is currently penning the sequel to “Chronicle”) has teamed up with former “24” and current “Homeland” showrunner Howard Gordon on a new superhero TV series on the Fox network called “Vigilant”. Fox has already ordered a pilot script.

The plot:

The project is described as a “superhero” origin story told through the unlikely point of view of a smart 20-year-old woman who happens to be a social outcast. After an honorable veteran detective is brutally coerced into working for the corrupt head of Internal Affairs, the detective’s daughter plans her revenge by creating a fictional vigilante persona to take on the criminal elements within the police department and the city.

No word if the female lead will have powers, or if she’ll just be a martial arts trained badass. Or none of the above. From the sounds of it, she may just be a capable 20-something, though I’m not sure what her status as a “social outcast” means to her abilities, or lack thereof. I mean, she’s gotta be powered somehow, right? Otherwise where does the “superhero show” come in?

This actually sounds a bit like NBC’s failed “The Cape”, which found an ex-cop going up against a corrupt city and its corrupt police department. Of course, the hero in that one found a cape that could do ridiculously cool stuff. Speaking of “The Cape”, maybe “Vigilant” should offer the role to “The Cape’s” former star, Summer Glau…